Coin-controlled automatic shoe cleaning and polishing device



Marchs, 1970 W,L.R;HARDSON 3,497,899

COIN-CONTROLLED AUTOMATIC SHOE CLEANING AND POLISHING DEVICE Filed March 6, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet l 33 ooo'ooooo March 3, 1970 w. l.. RICHARDSON 3,497,895

COIN-CONTROLLED AUTOMATIC SHOE CLEANING AND POLISHINCyDEVICE Filed March 6. 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 n INVENTOR M WALTER I.. RlcHARosoN March 3, 1970 w. L. RICHARDSON COIN-CONTROLLED AUTOMATIC SHOE CLEANING AND POLISHING DEVICE Filed March 6, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 5' INVENTOR WALTER l.. RICHARDSON FIG.

ATTY.

March 3, 1970 w. l.. RICHARDSON 3,497,896

COIN-CONTROLLED AUTOMATC SHOE CLEANING AND POLISHING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 6, 1968 IIIIIIIIIIH INVENTOR. WALTER L. RICHARDSON ATTY.

United States Patent Olice 3,497,896 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 3,497,896 COIN-CONTROLLED AUTOMATIC SHOE CLEAN- ING AND POLISHING DEVICE Walter L. Richardson, Forest Grove, Oreg.

Filed Mar. 6, 1968, Ser. No. 710,911 Int. Cl. A471 23/02 U.S. Cl. 15--32 8 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE An electrically-operated and coin-controlled machine in which a pair of rotating brushes move forward and back over both sides of the shoe, rst performing a shoe cleaning operation and then a polish-applying and polishing operation, and in which a larger rotating brush, positioned above the toe portion of the shoe, cooperates in the cleaning and polishing of the toe portion, while the shoe remains stationary in the machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There are known shoe shining machines on the market in which pairs of rotating brushes in fixed position contact the shoe for the purpose of shining the shoe while the shoe is held stationary. One fault with these machines is that they do not satisfactorily reach all areas on the shoe, especially in the case of small size shoes. Some other shoe polishing machines are so arranged that the customer can move his foot along between rotating brushes in order to have all the surface areas contacted. This requires more attention and effort on the part of the customer. A fault common to most of these machines is that they do not perform a proper cleaning action on the shoe rst, but make it possible for the polish to be applied over dirt on the shoe.

The device of the present invention eliminates these faults by causing rotating brushes to move along over both sides of the shoe and to move down on the top of the front portion of the shoe, and by having the brushes rst perform a cleaning action on the shoe and then apply the polish and perform the shining operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the carrying out of the present invention the shoe remains on a stationary support in the machine and a pair of rotating brushes, from a position behind the rear of the shoe, move forward to contact the heel portion and then move along forwardly on opposite sides of the shoe to the toe portion to perform a preliminary cleaning operation. In the meantime a raised rotating brush in the front portion of the machine moves down on the top of the shoe to clean that surface portion and then moves up again. At this stage of the procedure polish is applied to the two brushes which have reached the front of the shoe, and, as they move back to starting position, they perform the desired polishing action while the raised front brush, to which polish has also been applied, moves down on the shoe to perform a polishing action on the top of the front portion. Furthermore, during the polishing of the shoe finishing wax is applied also along the edge of the shoe sole. At the end of the cycle the front brush is in raised position above the shoe and the other two brushes have moved back to resting position behind the shoe, leaving the shoe entirely free. All this takes p BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of the entire device, taken from the front;

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are side elevations of the lower and upper portions of the device, taken on the line indicated at 2 -2 in FIG. 3, but with the near side of the Wall of the outer housing removed for clarity, FIG. 2A showing the starting position for various parts of the device and showing in broken line the stationary position of the shoe during the operation of the device;

FIG. 3 is a plan section taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 4 is a sectional elevation taken on line 4 4 of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary and foreshortened section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary foreshortened section taken on line 6--6 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary enlarged and foreshortened section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 2A; and

FIG. 8 is a -wiring diagram.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The device includes a housing 10, shaped as shown in FIG. 1, having a horizontal deck 11 on the lower front portion and having an upwardly extending rear portion 12 which terminates at the top in a supplementary housing 12. The front portion of the housing 10, the deck 11, and the adjacent wall of the housing portion 12 are provided with an opening 13 large enough to receive any shoe to be shined.

The housing 10 has a rectangular bottom plate 14 (FIGS. 2A, 3, and 4) on ywhich rests a skeleton frame within the housing. The skeleton frame includes a pair of bottom side angle iron members 15 and 16 (FIG. 3) which are Welded to end angle iron bottom members 17 and 18.

Spaced below the opening 13 of the horizontal deck 11 is a stationary horizontal foot rest plate 19 on which the user of the device places his foot with the shoe to be cleaned and shined. The foot and shoe are indicated in broken lines at S in FIGS. 2A and 3. The foot rest plate 19 is secured on a longitudinal bar 20 (FIGS. 2A and 3) which in turn is secured to supports at the front and rear ends of the skeleton frame. The stationary foot rest plate 19 has a small side lug 21 (FIG. 3) to hold the foot and shoe of the user of the device from sliding sidewise on the foot rest 19 under the action of a top rotary brush to be described later.

A carriage assembly consisting of two side bars 22 and 23, rigidly secured to a cross bar 24 (FIGS. 3 and 4) is mounted on two pairs of wheels 25, 25 and 26, 26, which ride on the bottom side angle iron members 15 and 16 respectively. A motor M1 (FIG. 6) is mounted on the end support member 27 for the foot rest 19, which member 27 is welded to the bottom frame member 17.

i This motor M1 drives a sprocket wheel 28 through suitable reduction gearing. The sprocket wheel 28 drives an Aendless sprocket chain 29 which passes around an idler sprocket 30 (see also FIG. 7) supported on a bracket 31 attached to the front bottom frame member 18. An arm 32, secured to the cross bar 24 of the carriage (FIGS. 3, 6, and 7), and extending downwardly and rearwardly from the cross bar 24, has a plate 33 formed with a slot i133', as shown in FIG. 7. A pin 29 secured on the sprocket chain 29 and extending downwardly therefrom, engages the slot 33'. Consequently operation of the motor M1, driving the endless sprocket chain 29, causes the carriage with its cross bar 24 to move forwardly to the broken line position shown in FIG. 3 and then to move back to the starting position shown in full lines in this ligure.

A pair of arms 34 and 35 are pivotally mounted on the cross bar 24 of the carriage in the relative locations shown in FIG. 3. A pair of motors M2 and M3 (see also FIG. 4) are carried by the arms 34 and 35. A pair of brushes 36 and 37 are mounted on and rotated by the motors M2 and M3 respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, the pivotal mountings on the cross bar 24 for these arms 34 and 35 are inclined so that the arms, and therewith the motors and brushes which they support, will swing in towards each other when free to do so. A stationary V-shaped guide 38 (FIG. 3) engages the motors M2 and M3 for the brushes 36 and 37 when the carriage is in the rear or starting position shown in full lines in FIG. 3 and holds the pair f motors and brushes spaced from each other while the carriage is in that position. However, as the carriage moves forwardly from starting position the motors and brushes swing in toward each other, causing the brushes to come together at the heel portion of the shoe S and then to remain in contact with the sur face of the shoe on both sides of the shoe respectively, finally coming together at the toe of the shoe, as shown by the broken lines in FIG. 3.

An inverted U-shaped frame 39 has legs 39' extending downwardly on each side of the machine respectively which are movable up and down to a limited extent between pairs of guide rollers 40 (FIGS. 2A, 3 and 4), these guide rollers being mounted on support members extending up from and secured to the side bottom frame members and 16. A pin 41 (FIG. 2A) in the bottom of each of the legs 39 engages a slot in one arm of a bell crank 42, one of these bell cranks being shown in FIG. 2A. The bell crank is pivotally mounted at 43 on a support secured to the corresponding bottom side frame member. The other arm of the bell crank is pivotally connected to a link 44 and this link in turn is pivotally connected to one end of a bar 45. The opposite or rear end of the bar 45 rests on the cross bar 7.4 and the tip of the rear end is turned inwardly at an angle of 90 so as to be contacted by a pin 46 on the corresponding end of the cross bar 24 of the carriage (see FIG. 3).

Since the two side legs 39 of the frame 39' have the same connections with the cross bar 24 of the carriage, it will be apparent from FIGS. 2A and 3 that forward movement of the carriage from the starting position shown in these figures will enable the frame 39 to move a slight distance downwardly from its raised starting position. Also, it will be observed that the return movement of the carriage rearwardly will cause the frame 39 to be returned to normal raised position. However, for a reason later explained, it is desirable to raise the frame 39 also when the carriage is approaching its extreme forward position. For this purpose a pair of arms 49 are mounted near the opposite ends respectively of the cross barI 24 (FIGS. 3 and 4) and extend upwardly and rearwardly from the cross bar 24, as shown best in FIG. 2A. These arms 49 are so arranged and positioned that they will engage a pair of at bars 50 (FIGS. 3 and 2A), secured to and extending rearwardly from the legs 39 of the frame 39, and temporarily lift the frame 39. Consequently the forward movement of the carriage from the rear starting position rst results in the lowering of the frame 39 and then in the raising of the frame 39 as the carriage approaches its most forward position. The reverse action takes place as the carriage moves from extreme forward position back to rear starting position.

A motor M4 is supported from the frame 39, and, through the intermediary of a reducing gear assembly 47, in turn supports a rotary brush 48. In order to lighten the weight of the frame 39 and of the motor and brush supported from it, and thus to make it easier to move the frame into normal raised position, a coil spring 51 connects the frame 39 with a stationary bracket 52 carried on a standard 53 which is positioned in the center of the ,front portion of the frame and rigidly secured at the bottom to the front angle iron bottom frame member 18.

From the description thus far it will be understood, particularly with reference to FIGS. 2A and 3, that when the four motors M1, M2, M3 and M4, are caused to operate, the carriage with the cross bar 24 will move forwardly from its rear starting position, carrying the rotating brushes 36 and 37, rotated by the motors M2 and M3 respectively, forwardly, causing these brushes to meet and engage the heel portion of the shoe, then to move forwardly on opposite sides of the shoe until meeting at the front end of the shoe, and then to travel back along both sides of the shoe until the carriage nally reaches its rear starting position; and that during the forward travel of the carriage the front b rush 48, rotated by motor M4, will move down on the toe portion of the shoe, be raised again as the carriage approaches the forward end of its travel, thus preventing the brush from coming into conflict with the two brushes 36 and 37 at the front of the shoe. Then, with the return travel of the carriage, the brush 48 will again be lowered onto the top of the toe portion of the shoe, and nally be returned again to normal raised position as the carriage returns to its starting rear position. The means by which these brushes perform the shoe cleaning operation and the shoe polishing operation will next be briey described.

Within the upper portion 12 of the housing a container (indicated in broken lines at 54 in FIG. l) is mounted by suitable supporting means (not shown) attached to the front standard 53. This is a pressurized container and carries a cleaner fluid. Flexible tubes (not shown) deliver the cleaner liuid from the container 54 to a pair of rear nozzle assemblies 55 and 56 mounted on the frame in the position shown in FIG. 3, and to a forward nozzle assembly 57.

These three nozzle assemblies 55, 56 and 57 are each operated by a solenoid, and the closing of the circuit for activating the three solenoids is produced by the engaging of a spring-controlled switch element 58 (FIG. 5) by a short bar 59 mounted on one side of the carriage. The arrangement is such that the circuit for the solenoids in question will be closed for a short time when the carriage starts moving forward and again when the carriage nears the end of its return rear travel. The nozzles of the assemblies 55 and 56 are directed toward the rotating brushes 36 and 37 respectively, and the nozzle of the assembly 57 is directed toward the rotating brush 48. Consequently, cleaner fluid is sprayed onto all three brushes at the start of the operation cycle and again at the conclusion of the operation cycle. The spraying of the cleaner uid cleans the brushes, and also, at the start of the operation cycle, aids the brushes in cleaning the shoe surface.

A second container, indicated by the broken lines 60 in FIG. l, also mounted in the upper portion 12 of the housing, contains liquid shoe polish under pressure. Flexible tubes (not shown) deliver polish from this container to three solenoid-operated nozzle assemblies 61, 62 and 63 (FIG. 3) mounted near the front of the machine. Nozzle assemblies 61 and 62 are so positioned that they will spray polish onto the brushes 36 and 37 respectively when their solenoids are activated, and nozzle assembly 63 is so positioned that it will spray polish onto the rotating brush 48. The closing of the circuit to the solenoids for these three nozzle assemblies 61, 62 and 63 is caused by the engagement of a bar 64, mounted on the carriage bar 24, with a spring-controlled switch element 65 in the front of the machine. The arrangement is such that when the two brushes 36 and 37 have reached their foremost front position, and thus completed their cleaning operation on the shoe, they will receive a spray of polish to enable them to polish both sides of the shoe on their return travel. Similiarly, when the front brush 48 has completed its preliminary cleaning operation and has been temporarily raised, it will receive a spray of polish enabling it to polish the too portion of the shoe when the brush is temporarily lowered during the rearward travel of the carriage.

Preferably the front brush 48, which is considerably larger than the rear brushes 36 and 37, has the bottom ends of its bristles trimmed into the contour shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 4. As apparent from FIG. 2A this contoured brush enables it to conform more closely to the surface of the toe portion of the shoe.

It is often customary and desirable when shoes are shined, to have the edges of the soles given a coating of special wax. The machine of the present invention enables this to be done, too. A third container 66 (FIG. l) is also mounted in the upper housing portion 12 and contains liquid wax material under pressure suitable for application to the shoe sole edges. Flexible tubes (not shown) lead from the container 66 to a pair of solenoidoperated nozzle assemblies 67 and 68 (FIG. 3) and to a forward solenoid-operated nozzle assembly 69. The two nozzle assemblies 67 and 68 are pivotally mounted so as to swing in an arc as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 3. Spring elements (not shown) hold the nozzle assemblies in the position shown in FIG. 3 but enable them to be swung forwardly against the force of the spring elements when they are engaged by members 70 and 71 respectively attached to the rods 45. The nozzles of these assemblies are so directed as to cause their spray to engage the edges of the sole along the sides of the shoe and the nozzle of the assembly 69 is so directed as to cause its spray to engage the front edge portion ofthe shoe sole.

The circuit to the solenoids operating the nozzle assemblies 67, 68 and 69 is closed by the engagement of a bar 72 (FIG. 5) on the carriage with a springcontrolled switch element 73. Thus the nozzle assemblies operate a short time during the forward and rear travel of the carriage and the swinging of the nozzle assemblies 67 and 68 enables them to deliver their sprays along the line of the sole edges at both sides of the shoe.

Instead of having the cleaner fluid supplied from the single container 54 and delivered to the nozzle assemblies 55, 56 and 57 it would be possible to have individual pressurized containers for the cleaner Huid mounted at the locations of these nozzle assemblies, with a solenoid directly controlling the operation of each. Similarly, instead of having the liquid shoe polish supplied from the single container 60 and delivered to the nozzle assemblies 61, 62 and 63, it would be possible to substitute individual. pressurized containers for the polish placed at the locations for the nozzle assemblies 61, 62 and 63 with a solenoid controlling the operation of each. Also, individual pressurized containers for the liquid sole wax could be installed at the locations of the nozzle assemblies 67, 68 and 69 with the operation of each controlled by a solenoid. However, I consider it preferable to have the cleaner fluid, the shoe polish and the sole wax delivered from a single larger pressurized container in each case as illustrated and described.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2B and 8, a coin box, indicated by the broken lines 74 in FIG. 8, is located in the upper housing portion 12. A switch bar 75 engaging a spring member 76 is so arranged that is will -be moved to the lower broken line position indicated in FIG. 8 by the insertion of a coin in the coin slot 77 (FIG. l), and, when so moved, will cause the contact 78 to be temporarily closed. The device is connected to a source of electric power by two conducting lines 79 and 80. The deposit of the coin, closing the contact 78, closes the circuit through lines 81, 82 and 83 for the signal light 84 mounted in the upper housing portion 12 (see also FIG. 1).

After the deposit of the coin, indicated by the lighting of the signal light 84, the operator momentarily closes a spring-controlled push button starter switch 85. This closes the circuit through switch bar 75, lines 81 and 86 and line 87 for the solenoid 88. Activating the solenoid 88 results in closing the switches 89 and 90.

Closing of switch 89 closes the circuit for a motor M5, for a timing device through the lines 83, 91, 81 and switch bar 75. Closing of the switch 90 closes the circuit through the lines 91, 92 and 93 for the motors M1, M2, M3 and M4, causing the three brushes to rotate and the carriage assembly to move. A spring-actuated switch 94 (FIGS. 3 and 8) is so arranged as to be opened by being engaged by an arm 94 on the carriage when the carriage is in the rear starting position. When the switch 94 is not engaged by the carriage arm this switch remains closed. Thus, as the carriage starts its forward travel, the switch 94 closes, and, as apparent from FIG. 8, this closes a holding circuit to the solenoid 88 and keeps the switches 89 and 90 closed until the carriage has completed its forward and return travel cycle. The circuits for the signal light 84 and the motor M5 for a timing device remain closed regardless of the fact that the push button switch 85 has been released to open position.

The timing device 95, operated by the motor M5 (FIG. 8), includes a sliding spring-actuated trigger 96 and a driven rotating double cam arm 97. Each of the two opposite cam elements on the rotating cam arm 97 is arranged to engage the trigger 96 in turn. As this double cam arm rotates (clockwise as indicated in FIG. 8) the upper cam element engages the trigger 96 and thrusts it down against the force of the Spring. However, near the completion of of rotation, the arm releases the trigger 96 and this causes the trigger to snap back into normal position. In doing this the trigger 96 strikes against the switch bar 75 causing the latter to return to normal raised position. The timing device is so adjusted, however, that the time required for the arm 97 to rotate 180 is slightly more than twice the time required for the carriage assembly to complete a cycle of forward and rear travel.

When the carriage assembly completes one cycle of forward and rear travel, the return of the carriage to starting position causes the switch 94 to be opened. However, since the switch bar 75 is still in lowered position, the operator, by again momentarily closing the push button switch 85, can cause the carriage assembly to go through another cycle.

The coin-operated means for the switch bar 75 is not shown and need not be described since such means is old and well known and no claim of novelty is made for this portion of the device in itself.

I claim:

1. In a shoe cleaning and polishing device, a stationary foot rest, a carriage assembly movable beneath said foot rest, means supporting said carriage assembly for limited travel in forward and return direction longitudinally with respect to said foot rest, motor operated means for moving said carriage assembly alternately in forward and returning direction, a pair of rotatable brushes mounted on said carriage assembly so arranged as to move along over opposite sides respectively of a shoe on said foot rest during the forward and return travel of said carriage assembly, motor operated means for operating said brushes, a third rotatable brush, said third brush located above the forward portion of said foot rest, supporting means for said third brush movable down and up to a limited extent enabling said third brush to be moved down into lowered position into contact with the forward portion of the shoe on said foot rest and then return to up position out of contact with the shoe, motor operated means for rotating said third brush, cooperating elements connected with said carriage assembly and with said third brush supporting means so arranged that said third brush will be moved to up position when said carriage assembly approaches the limits of its forward and return travel and will move down into lowered position meantime during the forward or return travel of said carriage assembly, electrically operated means for momentarily delivering shoe polish from under pressure into the paths of said first mentioned brushes and of said third brush, and a control assembly for controlling the actuation of said motor operated means for said carriage land for said brushes and said electrically operated means for delivering said shoe polish.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 with the addition of a switch in said control assembly so arranged as to enable the actuation of said electrically operated means for delivering shoe polish to take place only when said switch is closed, and means connected with said carriage assembly causing said switch to close only when said carriage assembly reaches the forward extent of its travel.

3. The combination of claim 2 with the addition of electrically operated means for delivering cleaning uid momentarily tonto said brushes upon the movement of said carriage assembly from or back to its rear starting position.

4. A shoe cleaning and polishing device including a main housing, a stationary foot rest in said main housing, a top deck on said main housing, said housing and top deck having an opening above said foot rest to enable the foot and shoe of the user of the device to be placed on said foot rest, a carriage assembly movable beneath said foot rest, means in said housing supporting said carriage assembly for limited travel in forward and return direction longitudinally with respect to said foot rest, motor operated means for moving said carriage assembly alternately in forward and in return direction, a pair of rotatable brushes on said carriage assembly so arranged as to move along over opposite sides respectively of a shoe on said foot rest during the forward and return travel of said carriage assembly, motor operated means for rotating said brushes, a third rotatable ybrush in said housing, said third brush located above the forward portion of said foot rest, supporting means for said third brush movable down and up to a limited extent enabling said third brush to be moved' down into lowered position into contact with the forward portion of the shoe on said foot rest and then return to up position out of contact with the shoe, motor operated means for rotating said third brush, cooperating elements connected with said carriage assembly and with said third brush supporting means so arranged that said third brush will be moved to up position when said carriage assembly approaches the limits of its forward and return travel and will move down into lowered position meantime during the forward or rear travel of said carriage assembly, electricallyoperated means for momentarily delivering shoe polish from under pressure onto said first mentioned brushes and onto said third brush, a control assembly located -within said housing for controlling the actuation of said motor operated means for said carriage assembly and for said brushes and said electrically operated means for delivering said shoe polish, and a switch in said control assembly so arranged as to enable the actuation of said shoe polish delivering means to take place only when said carriage assembly is in forward position.

5. The device as set forth in claim 4 with the addition of electrically operated'means in said housing for delivering cleaning fluid from under pressure momentarily onto said brushes when said carriage moves from or back to rear starting position.

6. The device of claim 4 with the addition of the means for applying wax along the edge of the sole of the shoe on said foot rest during the operation of said device.

7. The device of claim 4 with said housing formed with an upwardly-extending forward portion beyond said top deck.

8. The device of claim 4 with said housing having an upwardly-extended forward portion, with said control assembly located in said forward portion of said housing, and with coin-operated master switch means in said control assembly in the top part of said upwardly-extending portion of said housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 879,541 2/1908 Hammond 15-32 1,623,218 4/1927 Thompson 15-32 3,309,726 3/ 1967 Moore et al. 15-32 EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Primary Examiner 

